1078 
■Ghe RURAL NEW-YORKER 
September 15, 1917 
<■1111 K*'<‘ ni<‘ some light on tho iiinttcr? 
w. I,. 
Under the new law we do not see that 
the government would he justifie<l in in¬ 
terfering, yet there are many suoh cases 
constantly coining up. If there were 
“exwss profits” in such a case as this, 
they would be taken in increased tax¬ 
ation and not given back to the grower. 
The contract in question reads in part as 
follows: 
Witnesseth that in consideration of one 
dollar cash and the pidce of. .25. .cents 
per five eighths wire hoop basket, party 
of the second part agrees to jilant and cul¬ 
tivate for the special use of the said party 
of the first part. .12. .acres of land in 
tomatoes, to be grown from plants raised 
from seed furnished or approved by the 
liarty of the first part; and it is ex¬ 
pressly understood that if the party of the 
second part grow tomatoes for or del'ver 
the same to anyone else but the said jiarty 
or if any other person delivers toma¬ 
toes grow’n upon the land of the party of 
th<‘ si‘<v'’'d iiart to anyone else but the 
said party, the party of the first part 
may, if so disjiosed, refuse to receive any 
or all of the tomatoes grown by the party 
of the second part. 
We sent this contract and the question 
to the Food Administration and received 
the following re))\v : 
Would he be justified in breaking a con¬ 
tract of this k.ud on account of tue e.,- 
ces.sive profit which the cauner will make 
by reason of the contract? We can only 
advise you of the provisions of the Food 
('outrol act. under which this department 
operates. Thei*e ’S nothing in that act 
which would justify either party to a 
contract of this kind from refusing to 
carry it out. Whether or not suoh con¬ 
tracts can be interfered with by the 
United States Food Administrat'on is 
another question upon which we are not 
prejiared t <4 give an ouiiron at this time, 
particularly in view of the meager infor¬ 
mation which we have with reference to 
this particular contract. Our I'eply to 
your question is therefore in the negative, 
and we trust that this will give you some 
of the information you desire. 
According to this, such a contract made 
before the war wotild not be changed by 
anything directly in the new law. We 
think it is possible that if the price ran 
so high as to prove a h.ardship to the 
jniblic the Food Administrator might 
make new pr'ces, but it is not likely that 
he would otherwise interfere. 
Tomatoes Fail to Ripen ; Beets Run to Top 
1. I Imve 1.50 tomato plants tied up to 
stakes (.Tewel and Stone) and they have 
an abund.ance of tomatoes, but they do 
n< t ripen. Vines are healthy and look 
green. Is there anything I can do to 
hasten the ripening of the tomatoes? 
Soil is sandy, well fertilized and at first 
showed raj)id growth. Plants still blos¬ 
soming and fruits hang in clusters from 
size of peas to as large as a man’s fist. 
Weather has been dry, but we have had 
occasion.'il showei-s with heavy dews. 2. 
Also, is there any w.ay of making beets 
“Ixjttom” that are apparently running to 
■•tot)s"? F. S. A 
Palmer, Mass. 
1. There is nothing practical that you 
can do to hasten the riixuiiug of your to¬ 
matoes. Chalk’s Early .Tewel re<iuires 30 
days more thuTi Earliaiui to ripen its fruit, 
while the Stone takes nearly three weeks 
longei-. vVllow the tomatoes to ripen on 
the vine for finest q\iality. They may be 
prematuimy ripened by severely checking 
the growth of tin; jdants, but this would 
seriously affect the yield. Ci'ccn tomatoes 
turn white Ixd'ore they ripen. If the 
white tomat<x-s or the blu.shed tomatoes 
arc picked, they will ripen two or three 
days (piicker tlnin they would on tlui 
vines. G'his practice will increase the 
production fiom each i)lant, but it is 
detrimental to the quality. A luxuriant 
growth, especially of the late varieties, 
delays maturity very much. 
2. Beets .should stand at least three 
inches apai-t in rows at least 12 inches 
apart. If they stand thicker nothing 
but leaves can form. Thin out the plants 
.and use the thinnings as spinach for 
greens. Beets like a rich and mcect soil. 
R. W. D 
Heeling in Strawberries in Winter 
What would be the proper way to 
handle and care for evei-bearing straw- 
ben-ies that are to be movwl to another 
place in the Spring and set out? 'Tliey 
would have to be taken from the bed 
this Fall on account of the ground not 
being open in the Spring at the time 
when we move to the other place and 
they cannot be .set out on the other place 
this Fall. j. F. K. 
Cadillac. IMicb. 
Our plan would be to dig those straw¬ 
berry i)lanrs late this Fall after they 
had become practically dormant. We 
would clean fhem iij) just as we would 
in the Spring when preparing to set 
them in a new bed. After the plants 
were cleaned ui) (old runners and dead 
leaves removed) we would take them to 
the new place and heel them in. To 
do this a shallow trench should be opened 
ajid the plants placed along one side 
of this, using care to avoid getting them 
in too close together. After plants are 
in place pull the moist soil up against 
the roots and pack it firm. After that 
the plants can be covered with straw as 
a ))rotection against the frost A cold 
fi-ame make.s an ideal place for holding 
strawberry plant.s. After plants are in, 
the frame is filled loosely with straw 
and if the Winter weather is very severe 
the sash can be placed on over the straw. 
If inconvenient to move plants to the 
new farm this Fall they can be heeled in 
at the home place and held until Spring, 
when they can be taken out and moved 
to the now place. trucker, ,tr. 
Weedy Asparagus Bed; Onions in the 
South 
1. I have an a.xparagu.s bed which on 
account of the rains and for other reasons, 
I have allowed to grotv up in weeds, l^ast 
year I kept it pi-etty clean all Summer, 
.and then cut the asparagus down after 
it turned yelknv. G’liis year I would like 
to mow the entire bed now, asparagus 
and weed.s all tog<*llx'r before J^ie weeds 
go to seed, as otherwise the wmeds will 
self-sow and give n.e liiore trouble next 
year. Will it do as well to cut the as¬ 
paragus now, under these circumstances, 
as to wait until it turns yellow? 2. I 
h<ave read in some of the seed catalogs 
that onions cannot be grown .success¬ 
fully from seed in one season in the 
South. I have tried it this year with 
good .')!i<'<-ess. both Yellow Danvers and 
American Brizetakers, sowing the seed 
in a cold frame about the first of March, 
and trausnlanting tc the garden when a 
little smaller than a lead ixmcil. I now 
have w)me very fine onions, of voo<l size, 
shape and soi.ndness,—much better than 
the ones grown from sets. I‘osribly, on 
account of the altitude here (2.200 feet) 
this sect’on is more like the North for 
agricultural purposes thaq the South. 
Ilendersonville, N. C. o. ii. v, 
1. If the bed is not a very large one 
it would be better to have the weeds and 
grass i>ulled <»ut by hand and the soil 
hoed cle.an betw<x>n the rowa If the tops 
are mown off now there would be a late 
immature growth .st.arted and to some 
extent .‘i weaking of the roots. If it is 
not jiracticable to have the weeds pulled 
out I would let all grow till later and 
in the Fall, cover the bed with stable 
manure to be dug in the Spring, and 
then keep ahead of the weeds. It is 
not hard to kill weeds as sof.ui as they 
show germination, and if the cultivation 
is rapid and shallow all the seed in reach 
of germination will have been killed. I 
find that after cutting ceases clean culti¬ 
vation and side dressings of nitrate of 
soda i)romote :i wonderful growth, and 
this made in late Summer gives greater 
strength to the roots and bigger shoots 
in Spring. 
2. Here I sow the cnion seed in a 
frame in .laniuiry. iind 1 think that Feb¬ 
ruary would lx' btdter iu your mountain 
country than March. I have seen as large 
Prizetakers grown near Asheville as I 
ever saw anywhere. w. F. MA,SSEy. 
Digging and Storing Sweet Potatoes 
Being mv first year iu raising sweet 
potatoes, will you advise me whether 
they are to be dug before or after the 
frost? Having a building 14x.ff0 ft, 
would this be a good place for storing 
swe«!t potatoes for about two mouths, hav¬ 
ing al)out seven acres iu them ? T. J. P. 
Atco, N. .1. 
Sweet potatoes can be dug either be¬ 
fore or after frost kills the vines. Early 
potatoes dug before frost and sold at 
once often pay much better than potatoes 
left to mature. The price is the deter- | 
mining factor. If intended for storage 
the crop should be alloweel to mature, 
but should be dug before the ground 
freezes. A light fi-ost will kill the vines 
and do but little damage, but a Tight 
freeze is apt to injure the ends of the 
sliould be dug carefully so as to avoid 
bruises. TRUCKER, JR. 
The Botanical Raw Products Committee 
The above committee forms .a part of 
the National Be.search Council, now act¬ 
ing as a department of the Council of 
Natiomil Defense. The great w.ar has 
brought out many commercial and eco¬ 
nomic problems, iu which the producer or 
manufaerturer must ask the help of 
the scientist. The committee specified 
is oiganized to act as a clearing-house 
where manufacturers needing raw pro¬ 
ducts of a botanical nature may obtain 
information regarding them. GTie com¬ 
mittee says: 
“That there is great need for a work 
such as this hardly requires demonstra¬ 
tion. Exclusive of foods, numerous bo¬ 
tanical raw’ products arc very important 
to our industries. There are gums and 
resins, rubbers, vegetable fats and oils, 
vegetable dyes and tannins, fibres, cellu¬ 
lose, drugs and herbs, essential oils and 
perfumes, and possibly most important of 
all, forest products. A great number of 
facts have been discovered about many 
of these products, but iu only too many 
cases even the name of the species from 
which the raw material comes is un¬ 
certain, obscure or unknown. Very often 
a great industry buys its r.aw material 
h’om a broker or an iinportiug^house 
without knowledge of either the geo¬ 
graphic or th(! specific source. When this 
source is cut off, as has frequently been 
the case during the past three years, and 
as possibly Avill be more frequent during 
the next few years, the manufacturer has 
been placed in an uncomfortable position. 
Curiously enough, such a predicament is 
many times brought about by the curtail¬ 
ment of a product used iu such i-elatively 
small (juantities that the fact that it is 
essential to the finislu'd article is ov<!r- 
looked or forgotten during time.s of plen¬ 
ty.” • 
It may i-eadily be seen that this work 
is of importance to the whole nation. The 
chairman of the committee is I’rof. E. M. 
East of Harvard University, and any in¬ 
formation desired may be obtained by 
addressing 'The Botanical Baw Products 
Committee, National Besearch Council, 
Bussey Institution of Harvard Univer¬ 
sity, Forest Hills, Mass. 
Boston Produce Markets 
l.MI’ROVKI) DEMA.VI) AM) RETTER AVERAGE 
PRICES KOI.LOAV COOL WEATHER AXD 
RETURN OF VACATION l^EOPLE. 
I.ittle complaint of dull trade is heard 
in any branch of the pixxluce trade. Vege¬ 
tables, fruits, poultry and eggs, meats, 
dairy products are all selling pretty well 
and stocks are kept cleared up in all the 
more imjiortant items. ‘‘When the cool 
weather conie.s, people want to be well 
f<>d,” exjilained a general produce dealer. 
"Even the country resorts are buy’ng 
liberally, although so many of them are. 
past tlui season. I tut the mountain resorts 
bo<nn all through the mouth, and in such 
jdaces nx)st of the supplies are ordereil 
from the city. On the other hand, many 
consumers are back from vacation and 
their trade now draws through this mar¬ 
ket again.” Some price items are stif¬ 
fened because of decreasing siqiply or 
special demand, or because abundance and 
ch(>apness drew’ buyers. GTiere is still 
time for a good season'for producers. Last 
year, it will be, remembered, prices w'ere 
not remarkably strong until the Fall and 
Winter months. No doubt many high 
liopes have been disappointed thus far. 
Commenttxl. a leading broker of farm 
property: ‘‘G’he demand for farms has 
been affected by tlie high cost of produc¬ 
tion and by tlie failure to reabze the 
fancy prices that many expe<-ted who 
went heavily into some special crops. 
Farnno-s who w'ent light or along their 
usual lines s<x*m best satisfied. I'lie call is 
mainly for the mt'dium and low-pr’ced 
farms. Buyers hesitate to take over a 
jdace that re<juires a great deal of hired 
labor to carry it on.” 
Most lines of garden truck are in active 
(banand at improved prices compaivd with 
the i>artial glut of a few weeks ago. 
T'here are except'ous; surely there is no 
profit this year in cabbages at (iOc per 
bbl., good ones, tm), nor in Summer s(iuash 
at 15c a box. Winter squash and yellow 
(f’tmtinned on page 3005) 
Tre e* G row Better If Protected With 
^ELSlOIt’ W"* 
^ Tree Guards 
Prevent girdling, bark-peeling, gnawing 
and injury from tools and careless people. 
Strong; heavy galvanizing prevents rust; 
economical; last for years; easily placed 
and moved. All sizes. Write for catalog R, 
prices, etc. 
Wright Wire Co., Worcester, Mass. 
Don’t Think Only of Scale 
when you think of 
“SCALECIDE” 
it is all there is to 
Dormant Spraying 
Does all that any other spray will do 
—but no other spray will do a// that 
SCALECIDE*’ will do. Kills all kinds of 
scale—all formsof fungus and insects that 
Can be reached in dormant season—and 
invigorates your trees—and costa no 
more. Read our money-back proposition 
before ordering anything else. 
Send for free booklet. 
Profits in Fall Spraying" 
B. G. Pratt Co., M’fg Chemists 
50 Church St. Dept. N 
New York 
•Dreer’s. 
Choice Farm Seeds 
inter etch (Vicia viiio»a) 
Valuable as a Winter cover crop, also for Imv 
and green manure. Viola Vlllosa Is the only 
reliable Vetch for Fall sowing, AVrito for our 
leallet and price of seed, 
Dreer’s Autumn Catalogue 
offers a list of Farm Seeds for Fall sowin;; 
including Wheat, Dwarf Essex Rape, (iriiss 
and Clover Seeds, also a complete list of 
Spring-Flowering Hulbs, Hyacinths, TuHi)s. 
Narcissus. Crocus, I.illes, etc. Write for eopv 
and mention this Publication. 
Henry A. Dreer 
714-716 Chestnut St. Phila., Pa. 
MALONEY TREES 
For Fall Planting, Fruit and Ornamental, 
Shrubs, Maloney A-l Quality, direct 
from tbo nursery at wholesale. 
3 Bearing Age Trees $1.00 
8 to 10 feet. Trees tnst will boar in 1918. 
1 ttclntosb Rod Apple* 1 Bartlett Pear C1 ftA 
1 Montmorency Sour Cherry, all for . 
Wrlfo for free wholesale cacalog today. 
MALONEY BROS. A WELLS CO. 
73 Main Streat. Dansvitle, N. Y. 
thbti,i}X'lUe^^ Wholesale Nurserien 
HalTivinoionf^ 
For Fall planting, Direct from Certified Grower of 27 ■ 
yeaiV experience, at Half Agents Price. OUARiXTliKb 
Fi esh Diig.True to Name and to reach you in good grow, 
ing condition. Send for Frte Wholesale Fait Price List. 
THE WM. J. REILLY NURSERIES, 161 Ossian St. Dansville, N. Y. 
(OrisJc.tor. of "Half Asenta Price.’’) 
STRAWBERRY PLAISITS 
FOR SEPTEMBER AND FALL PLANTING 
Pot-giowu and runner plants that will Ih'iu- irult next 
hummer. .Tune-l>eai'ing and Ever-bearing varieties. Also 
Rospborrv, Pta-kberry Plants >nd Fruit Trees. Caialnrnte 
free. IIAKKV 1.. Pai'IKEti, Good Ground, N. Y. 
Russian Pitkus Seed Rye ilm teS 
Big yielder, grain and straw. Sow until freezing 
weather. $'.’.30i>er bu. CLOVERDAIE FARM.ChaHotte.N.Y. 
M ammoth White Rye ^iLT^fimothy' 
Catalogue and Sample Free. 
Ncw Cupll»Ie,'<Hilo 
ChoiceGeneseeValley Seed Wheat oiTnd Prize.’’^ 
Red. bald Yield as high as 63 bush, per acre. $3 per hn-li. 
casli. .Sacks free. J. N. MePhereon, Pine View Farm, Seetlaville, N.T. 
Best Standard APPLE BARRELS 
KOHT. CI1LL1E8 - Medina, New York 
Send for our 12-Page Reward List 
showing upwards of 800 articles 
given for securing subscriptions to 
C’/ic RURAL NEW-YORKER 
Addrtfs^ Vtpartment **Ar* 
333 W. 30th Street, Netv York City 
USE NATCO DRAIN TILE 
Farm drainage demands durable tile. Our drain tile are made of best 
Ohio clay, thoroughly hard burned—everlaating. Don’t have to dig 
’em up to be replaced every few years. Write for prices. Sold in carload 
lots. Also manufacturers of the famous NATCO IMPERISHABLE 
SILO, Natco Building Tile and Natco Sewer Pipe. 
National Fire Proofing Company - 1121 Fulton Building, Pittsburgh, Pa. 
liotatoi's uearext the surface of the soil 
and cause rot iu storage. f^weet iio- 
tatoes can be stored in the building men¬ 
tioned. MTieu first put iu they should 
be given plenty of heat and ventilation 
until after the “sweat” is over. The 
temperature eau then be lowered, but 
should always be kept above the freezing 
point. Potatoes iuteudctl for storage 
Hi 
Raise Fruit That SeDs 
T ou are at-KUred of luscious peaches, apples, 
pears, plums, etc., in buying Kelly'sTTcc&— 
fruit that brings good round prices, that _ 
iid<l8 to your enjoyment of yonr home table. Send today for handsome FALL U.vrALOGUK, with its 
Half .\gents’ I'l ices. Fall planting puts your tree.s way ahead. ♦ 
KEI.l.Y It It OS. WHOLESALE NURSERIES, 41 Exchau^e Street, Dansville, N. Y. 
rO’’ ‘LI. NEVER REGRET PLANTING KELLY TREES 
